Cardamom Milk

I just made this almond milk with cardamom.  It is a dream.  Cardamom is one of my favorite flavors, up there with fennel and cinnamon.  I got to use my mortar and pestle.

Sewing

My girls went back to school today.  I'm oh so ready to get to work, but I miss them!  On Saturday my sweet delia and I made a pillowcase with her sewing kit that she got for Christmas.  I need her to learn how to sew so she can teach me.  She loves it, I think good things will come out of this.

Spring Break

Oh Disneyland.  We had a wonderful vacation, and all our disney dreams came true.  Including wearing badges on our Birthday so we got tons of birthday wishes.  As we reviewed our maps on the last night, we were down to three rides we had not done.  That's right, we did everything else. Turns out five days allows you to be pretty thorough between the two parks!  (Says the exhausted, but satisfied mother.)  Anyway, Honey I Shrunk the Whatever was one of the rides we had left and we were debating whether it was worth hitting before we headed out.  Just as gavin repeated his sentiments that they should bring Captain EO back, considering recent events, we discovered they had!!  And it was every bit as thrilling as it was in 1986.  M.J. in his prime, remember when he was good looking?  I had a hard time staying in my seat, I wanted to bust out my fire girls 550 south moves.

My mom came down and did a couple days with us which was fun.  We took an afternoon to go the beach with my mom and some good friends.  Felt good for my soul.  I so wish I lived near the ocean!

We brought a project for our down time: fun with calligraphy pens and colored inks.  We didn't get too far (I couldn't stop reading cook books, I'm a little addicted as of late) but we had fun experimenting and are definitely on to something.  

Strange things happen when I am with my sisters.

Like THIS.  Mark that for when you need a little pick-me-up.  

And I come home with these: 

 And lots of jars of crafty bits and little porcelain doll parts.

It's kind of magical.

Where Have I Been?

One word: DEHYDRATING.

That's right.  Exactly 3 weeks ago I purchased Gavin and myself an early birthday present:  The Excalibur 3900.  Fifteen square feet of premium drying potential.  Can we say obsessed?  Since then I have dried 26 apples, 7 pears, 14 bananas, 1 huge papaya, 7 mangos, strawberries, green grapes, red grapes, lemons, nectarines, peaches, zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and bell peppers.  I've made a variety of fruit leathers, all kinds of candied nuts, seeds, nuts butters, and nut milks.  A few batches of granola, some raw.  I was making creamy delicious yogurt, which turned out to be a mistake as I am officially self-diagnosed lactase deficient. Local, raw milk or not, I don't digest it!  Lame.  Consoled myself with a variety of raw crackers, flaxseed crackers, raw apple-raisin cookies, raw sprouted wheat cinnamon bread, raw pecan sandies, and carob-coconut balls. While I was at it I made some sprouted wheat bread and a couple seriously delicious pies: peanut-butter-chocolate (Gavin's favorite dessert ever, it has tofu in it) and raw apple pie.  My cupboards are crammed, as is my freezer, and I can't seem to purchase enough jars.  Got myself a bit up a creek, as I am up against some serious deadlines and we leave for Disneyland in a couple days.  Disneyland = Trail mix.  At least we've got that.